Lessons from a Floundering Kickstarter Project...

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Lessons from a Floundering Kickstarter Project...

As I write this, my Kickstarter project is half way through the funding period. Unfortunately, I’m nowhere near half way to my funding goal, in fact I haven’t even raised 10 percent of my goal. I’ve basically given up hope that I will be able to reach my stated goal, which is fine. I’m still going ahead with my idea but now I need to figure out another way to fund it. I’ll raid my 401k if need be, this damn thing is going to happen! At this point, I figure the best thing I can do is share some lessons from a failing project so future Kickstarters can avoid making the same mistakes. Kind of like donating my body to science.

1) Have a Good Idea. This seems like a no brainer, but it’s worth noting anyway. My project, the “Great Maté Journey” seemed like a great idea to me: I could give some meaning and purpose to my travels to South America, I could learn a ton about my favorite drink, I could share my journey with other maté drinkers who were thinking about making a similar trip, I could educate people about the health benefits of maté and maté drinking, etc. I thought I had it figured out. I actually ran the idea by a few friends and they told me it was a cool idea. There’s only one thing I forgot to take into account: NOBODY CARES. Well, that’s not completely true, my parents kind of care. But for the most part, nobody gives a crap what you want to do. Most people will only take interest in things that will help them, or help them help others. It’s not about me (or you), it’s about helping people. I have every intention of using my trip for the greater good, but I didn’t do a great job of conveying that message. Successful projects make other peoples lives better, they give their contributors a warm and fuzzy feeling. Crappy projects don’t.

2) Be Honest. It’s so easy to spot something unauthentic. Everybody knows when you’re not telling the truth (or even the whole truth). Every human being, whether they know it or not, has a built-in bullshit detector and nobody is going to contribute to something that isn’t from the heart. A reader will always forgive a storyteller that over-exaggerates a story, it makes it more interesting. However, it’s impossible to keep a reader enthralled when you hold back any of the truth. With my project, I definitely want to learn everything I can about maté, but I also want to ride horses with the Gauchos in Patagonia, see Iguazu Falls, practice my Spanish, learn the tango, and fall in love with a beautiful Argentinian woman. That’s the whole story. I guarantee it will make for a better story, and I probably should have just explained it that way from the beginning. The maté is important, but it needs to be a part of a bigger story.

3) Set a Realistic Goal. “Oh cool, here’s a way to raise money for my big idea! Now if everyone I know just donates $5 then I can raise {Insert overly ambitious goal here}” I think this was what I was thinking when I started my project. I bet this is what all the other failed project were thinking, too. It’s natural to want to throw the total project cost as your goal, but it might not be the best strategy. Crowd-funding is really cool, but it’s really new. You can’t expect it to fund the whole project (it might, but don’t count on it.) I think a better mentality for my project was to use Kickstarter as a small victory. Something that showed I could get a moderate level of interest in my project. I should have set the bar lower and then easily reached my goal. After receiving the Kickstarter support, I could have gone for sponsorship from a maté company, or pitched the story to a magazine or newspaper. There are a ton of ways to get more funding, don’t expect crowd-funding to do it all. Instead, think of Kickstarter as a springboard of support for bigger things.

4) Don’t Count on Your Friends. I mean, of course count on your friends, just not to support your Kickstarter project. I showed a friend of mine the project in person on his computer while I was working on it, in order to get his opinion.
“Very cool, I’ll probably donate at the $50 level.”
“Nice!” I thought. Turns out that was the worst thing he could have said. Not only did he never donate, but he totally over-inflated my expectations about what I could raise. And what am I going to say, it’s hard to bug people for money that they said they would donate. It puts a weird tension on the friendship. It took me three weeks of bothering my brother to get him to finally donate. As a general rule, take everyone you think would definitely contribute and multiply that by 5%. The real gains are made by getting people you don’t know to contribute, which brings me to the next lesson…

5) Have a Marketing Plan. What separates your project from the rest of the pack at Kickstarter? How are people going to find your project? I put a lot of time into my video and write up for my project. I’ve spent a lot of time writing blog posts (including this!) and talking to people about the project. I didn’t spend nearly enough time on a marketing plan. I’ve only recently started using Twitter Search to find people who are interested in maté, I think that’s a start. I think successful projects do this well. In order to get your project to the finish line, expect to spend more time on marketing than you do on content. Don’t skimp on content, but expect to spend a lot more time on marketing.

I really hope this message is helpful for someone and that no one else makes the same humiliating mistakes as I have. I wish I would’ve read it before I started my project. If you want to see what remains of a failing Kickstarter project, check out www.greatmatejourney.com (Pity donations are gratefully accepted.)

Good luck on your project!